The House Appropriations Committee took a nearly two-hour-long recess in the middle of a Tuesday hearing after Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro compared Republican members of Congress to terrorists.
The committee met to debate Fiscal Year 2024 funding for the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development. Shortly after 12 p.m., Republican Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole introduced an amendment that would strike earmarks for three LGBTQ community centers. Several Democrats objected to it, claiming that revoking funding would cause violence against the LGBTQ community. (RELATED: Whoopi Goldberg Calls House Republicans ‘Domestic Terrorists’ After Voting Against A Bill)
“That is a disgrace. In all the two years that I dealt with, and this committee dealt with community projects, never once did we challenge any Republican project. We said, you did what you want to do, and we do what we want. And that has been destroyed today. Chairman Cole, who I have the utmost respect for, as you all know, let me quote you from Roll Call in August, I think they’ve been helpful in the process, I think they help members address problems. I think it’s been administered fairly. You went on to say, I hope we continue frankly the way we have operated,” DeLauro said.
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“Is there no limit on how low you will go to break the faith and trust on which this committee is supposed to operate? All to placate the whims of some who, I might add, and looking historically, do not ever vote for appropriations bills. You are negotiating with terrorists,” she continued, as Republicans sought to have her words stricken from the record.
Under House rules, members’ words can be stricken from the record or “taken down” if they are “disorderly or unparliamentary.” Another member must object, and then the chair decides whether to eliminate the remarks from the record. After the recess, DeLauro agreed to withdraw her comments.